Weathershedding
As we noted above, we were disappointed with the durable water repellant coating. This is the finish all waterproof jackets have on the exterior that helps bead raindrops so they run off. It does not affect the actual waterproofness of the jacket—this is done by an internal membrane—but when the coating fails the jacket does absorb a bit of water. We found Marmot’s DWR was not as long lasting as many others we’ve tried. The actual three-layer NanoPro membrane, a Marmot proprietary production, is solid. It never leaked. The hood is full coverage and easy to adjust and the zippers are all water resistant.

Breathability
NanoPro continues to impress us with its solid breathability—on par with the industry’s best. Adding to its sweat defeating ability are pit zips, which did a great job of dumping excess heat.

Function
The cuffs let us down with their lack of hold and, even when they did, they didn’t cinch the sleeves tight enough. That allowed water to run down our arms while paddling and adjusting tents. Everything else worked great. The pockets sat out of the way of pack straps and the jacket’s designed not to move when reaching overhead.

Durability
The 3-layer fabric felt really nice and soft, but also deflected a mean black berry bramble without a scratch. Two weeks of hard use left it unscathed.

Packability
At 15 ounces it’s a good weight for all the features packed in. It stuffs down to a small melon in size, about what we’d expect for the weight.